Next to You
by Sweetandnasty27
Summary: The real misfortune of his life, though was that he was forced to sit next to Dean Winchester. . OR The one where Dean and Cas have been seated next to each other since Kindergarten because of their last names and Cas is really getting tired of it.


Cas figured that every person in this universe got stuck with some kind of misfortune. He wasn't a pessimist or anything but he was sure that every person (even the one who smiled the most in a 7 am morning class) had something they would rather change in their life. And Cas himself wasn't immune to that as he did have some physical qualities he wanted to change about himself. Like for example, he really didn't like his crooked nose or the fact that his hands were pretty small (or delicate as his brother, Gabe had teasingly called them) even though he was a boy. He also knew that sometimes he could get way too dramatic as he's been called a drama queen lots of times before by his best friend, Balthazar (which is quite ironic as Balt was considered the drama queen of drama queens by their other friend, Meg.) Really, the more Cas thought about it, he came to the eminent conclusion that he might need to find new friends soon, friends that didn't take every opportunity they could get to call each other drama queens.

The real misfortune of his life, though was that he was forced to sit next to Dean Winchester. See, any person with eyes and ears could tell that Winchester was someone you wanted to sit next to. According to the school rumors, Winchester was pretty smart (Cas still had some doubts about that) and combined with his looks (he had deep green eyes and a smooth complexion (with only a few freckles, five per each side of his nose, _not_ that Cas was counting), he was the whole package. But Cas had been seated next to him since the beginning of time. Well actually, that's a bit of an exaggeration, he wasn't sitting next to Dean when the Big Bang occurred, but that's how it had always felt like to him as he had been sitting next to Winchester since Kindergarten because both of their last names began with Ws and teachers just _loved_ alphabetical seating charts.

And see, the thing is Cas didn't mind sitting next to Winchester in the beginning of time, sorry, his schooling career. At first they were buddies. They helped each other with homework and hung out during recess with the other boys. Plus, they would switch lunch bags once in a while (not because they didn't like what their parents had packed them but because they loved the element of surprise). Weirdos, right?

Well anyway, they used to be friends until fifth grade started. See by fifth grade, Dean had grown a few inches and suddenly girls were always frolicking over to his desk to help him with his homework or just to stare (but what do you expect, they were pubescent girls and Dean did end up growing into who he is today). And it didn't really bother Cas because a) somehow he had attracted a flock of girls as well that wouldn't leave him alone (no matter how much he tried to push, no sorry, shoo them away) and b) he was only ten.

Time went on eventually and the flock disappeared (Cas still doesn't know where all of the girls went, he swears he didn't see them afterward, which is kind of weird considering they live in a pretty small town). And then Dean and Cas went back to being friends.

But then seventh grade happened and that's when everything (well, not everything, that's quite impossible) went to hell. Something had happened to Dean (Cas thought it _might_ be the vegetables Dean's mom forced him to eat but he wasn't completely sure) but Dean grew even more and girls started to frolic again, except this time, Dean had somehow managed to shoo them away (to this day, Cas still wished he had learned that magic trick).

And suddenly, without Cas noticing, Cas became the center of Dean's universe. And it wasn't the way you would imagine it. Ew, they were _twelve_. No, Dean started annoying Cas by doing little things like stealing and hiding Cas's pens under his chair or kicking his leg chair while no one was looking. And Cas was pretty sure, there had been no alternative motive (well any alternative motive Cas could come up with, maybe Dean was a secret agent and his mission was to annoy Cas). Hey, he could dream, right?

Unfortunately, Cas had only been twelve at that time and didn't know that when a boy pulls a girl's (well in this case, boy's) pigtail, he liked them. So he thought the habit would stop but it only got worse.

Like one time during eight grade, while Cas was working on an essay, Dean tore it out of his hands and started running around the classroom (during the break, of course, _c'mon_ , he didn't just run around while the teacher was lecturing, who do you think Dean Winchester is?) until Cas caught up to him and got his essay back, glowering at Dean all the while Dean was calmly smiling up at him.

So Cas did the only _sensible_ thing he could think of: he started picking on Dean back. Whatever Dean did, he did back to him. They were quite the pair, weren't they? The answer is yes, they were _quite_ the pair as by the time high school rolled around, most teachers _prayed_ that Dean and Cas wouldn't end up in their class _._

So by the end of senior year, as they sat in their morning honors English class (Yes, Dean was smart, weren't you paying attention at the beginning?) and Dean had found yet another way to annoy Cas, Cas decided that enough was enough and he exploded. He started yelling and then Dean started yelling back and soon enough they were both red in the face with their nostrils flaring and both of them had their fists out (not that they would know how to use them as neither of them had been in a real fight before but hey it was their pride dictating their actions) and the teacher, Ms. Milton (god bless her soul for putting up with Cas and Dean for such a long time) had to separate them.

And as Dean went to sit in the back and Cas sat down back in his seat, grinning triumphantly (give him a break, he was still in high school, not having to move from his seat allowed him a triumphant grin), Jason, the kid who sat behind Cas leaned over and said quietly, "You know what they say."

"About what?" Cas muttered as he kept his eyes on _The Catcher in the Rye_.

"You know, boys who pull on girls' pigtails do it for a reason."

Cas shook his head, "Shut the fuck up, Jason, Winchester's just a royal ass."

Jason held up his hands (though there was no reason to do so as Cas couldn't see him). "Hey, I'm just saying. You never know what goes on in that pretty boy's head." Then he went back to reading his book and left Cas to his thoughts.

Cas shook his head as he thought over the possibilities of Dean liking him. Jason _obviously_ had it wrong. There was no way Dean liked him, he just liked to annoy Cas, for one reason or another. But as Cas thought over their interactions, he realized that despite Dean's tactics to annoy him, he never actually did anything that could be considered _mean._ Plus _,_ Dean did speak more gently to him than to the other students and whenever they did group projects with Jason and Ash, Dean always sided with him.

And then suddenly it hit Cas like a ton of bricks. See, he couldn't be sure if Dean liked him. But he was now positive that he liked Dean, actually he had liked him for quite some time now but had been too stupid and too blind to realize that.

Later, when Ms. Milton had given them a break (it was a two hour class) and most of the kids scattered out of the room, Cas stayed behind claiming that he was too engrossed in the book to go anywhere. Meg and Balt rolled their eyes and of course called him a drama queen but said they would bring him something back and then left.

When everyone had gone out and Cas looked back and saw that Dean still hadn't left, he smiled and went over to Dean.

Dean had been packing his backpack and when he noticed that someone was standing in front of his desk, he turned around and scowled. "What?"

"I'm sorry I blew up on you." Cas said softly, surprising even himself. Apparently, he was _full_ of surprises today.

"No, I'm sorry." Whatever response Cas had been expecting wasn't that as his mouth fell open.

" _What_?"

Dean rolled his eyes. "I said I'm sorry, I know sometimes I take things too far but that's only because I lik- " Dean didn't finish but the blush on his face told Cas enough.

"You like me?" Cas asked teasingly.

Dean shook his head, refusing to make eye contact. "No, I don't."

"Look me in the eye and tell me you don't like me."

Dean didn't look up but he did mutter, "I don't like you."

"I don't believe you."

"Oh yeah?" Dean asked challengingly, arching an eyebrow.

"Yeah."

"And why not?"

"Well your pupils are dilated, you're blushing like crazy and you didn't make eye contact when I asked you to prove your point."

Dean ran his fingers through his hair, "Jesus Christ, Meg and Balt were right, you are a drama queen."

Cas rolled his eyes and said, "Shut up and kiss me."

Dean was happy to oblige.

Sitting next to Dean for the rest of senior year wasn't a misfortune anymore.

Well, let's not say that. It was still a misfortune for , who now had to put up with the couple and for Jason, _poor poor_ Jason, who had originally planted the idea in Cas's head and who now also had to deal with the sickeningly sweet couple.

But for Cas and Dean, it was the opposite of a misfortune.


End file.
